The Energy Report

The Energy Report

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Investors rely on The Energy Report to share promising investment ideas in the energy industry through exclusive interviews with leading industry experts and analysts, who provide a clear picture of the causes of macro-economic shifts and the strategies that will help you capitalize on these developing trends.

The pace of infrastructure development in Kurdistan – thanks to oil and gas money – has led some to call the region a “Little Dubai”. Many oil companies, both big and small, have now moved in, drawn by potential reserves.

Since the 1960s, OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) has dominated global oil markets, controlling production, exports and prices. The shale boom however, particularly in North America, could shift some power away from the cartel, to small, nimble companies.

Thanks to the advent of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the U.S. is expected to be the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas next year, eclipsing production in Russia and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, U.S. energy exports to Asia have grown by a third this year, with greater demand coming not just from Japan – a traditional buyer of U.S. fuel – but from China as well.

The numbers don't lie—but politicians and industry bigwigs do. While pundits still wax poetic about an era of American energy independence, Bill Powers, author of the book "Cold, Hungry and in the Dark: Exploding the Natural Gas Supply Myth," sees productivity plummeting in almost every major shale play.

In the commodity world, lithium has been a rising star as its use and prevalence has skyrocketed in recent years. Even renowned investment sage Warren Buffett chose to invest in a little-known Chinese battery producer in 2008, eventually earning back nearly $1 billion. Is it too late to jump on the bandwagon, or are there still opportunities for you to capitalise on the trend?

Little more than a year after its aggressive nationalist takeover of Spanish-owned oil company YPF, Argentina is now courting foreign investment once more for its energy industry – signalling a 180-degree reversal on its past “energy sovereignty” policies. This though should come as no surprise given yet another disappointing year for local oil and gas production; even as Argentina now has the world’s fourth largest reserves of shale oil.

Many investors believe that global oil production would start to decline from 2014-15, a prediction based on the so-called peak oil theory that the world demand for oil would soon outstrip supply and send oil prices through the roof. For several years in the middle of the last decade, as oil prices climbed past $100 a barrel and analysts were betting it would cross $200, peak oil pundits were sure they had it right.

During the last three years, the mantra in the U.S. for shale has been, "Drill, baby, drill.” But the reality is there is only one true gas formation in the U.S. that is increasing production – Marcellus – while every other single shale gas play is now in decline.

The downturn beginning in 2008 triggered a macroeconomic meltdown that would disrupt all markets, domestic and global. Demand for petroleum diminished just as new technologies were beginning to gush out oil and gas in never-before-seen volumes, creating a perfect storm that would depress prices. Now that oil prices have rebounded, is the worst behind us?